Wednesday, June 21, 2017

Emmy Predictions 2017: Who Will Likely Get Nominated for Lead Actor in a Comedy Series?

From June 12 to June 26, voting is taking place for The 69th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards. To add to the excitement of the past year in television, I'm providing analysis on which shows and performers are likely to get nominated this year. Next up is Lead Actor in a Comedy Series.

2016 Nominees:

Anthony Anderson for ABC's black-ish
Aziz Ansari for Netflix's Master of None
Will Forte for FOX's The Last Man on Earth
William H. Macy for Showtime's Shameless
Thomas Middleditch for HBO's Silicon Valley
Jeffrey Tambor for Amazon's Transparent (WINNER)

All six nominees from last year are once again eligible. But more importantly, there seems to be one newcomer who seems like a lock in this race as well (Atlanta's Donald Glover). So, the race is bound to shake up in some way this year. Who gets pushed out? Has the buzz died down on Will Forte? Is name recognition no longer enough for William H. Macy? Was Thomas Middleditch's nomination just a one-time thing? All of those seem like possibilities in this race. One of them is likely out. But if more go, who else has a shot at getting in? Will the voters recognize quality work or go for the actors with long track records at the Emmys? This race is much more interesting the more one thinks about it.

So now, here's my thoughts on the performers must likely to be nominated for Lead Actor in a Comedy Series:

Jeffrey Tambor for Amazon's Transparent

Donald Glover for FX's Atlanta

Anthony Anderson for ABC's black-ish

Aziz Ansari for Netflix's Master of None

Thomas Middleditch for HBO's Silicon Valley

Ted Danson for NBC's The Good Place

And now, for some serious threats that could break into the list:

William H. Macy for Showtime's Shameless

Hank Azaria for IFC's Brockmire

Will Forte for FOX's The Last Man on Earth

Jim Parsons and Johnny Galecki for CBS' The Big Bang Theory

Kevin Bacon for Amazon's I Love Dick

Neil Patrick Harris for Netflix's A Series of Unfortunate Events

Nick Nolte for Epix's Graves

Zach Galifianakis for FX's Baskets

Timothy Olyphant for Netflix's Santa Clarita Diet

Bill Hader for IFC's Documentary Now!

Fred Armisen for IFC's Portlandia

Gael Garcia Bernal for Amazon's Mozart in the Jungle

Rob Delaney for Amazon's Catastrophe

Tommy Dewey for Hulu's Casual

Patrick Stewart for Starz's Blunt Talk

John Ross Bowie for ABC's Speechless

Some considerable long-shots:

Kevin James for CBS' Kevin Can Wait

Matt LeBlanc for CBS' Man With a Plan

Dwayne Johnson for HBO's Ballers

Thomas Haden Church for HBO's Divorce

Ashton Kutcher for Netflix's The Ranch

Chris Geere for FXX's You're the Worst

Andy Samberg for FOX's Brooklyn Nine-Nine

Andy Daly for Comedy Central's Review

Billy Eichner for Hulu's Difficult People

Paul Rust for Netflix's Love

Eugene Levy for Pop's Schitt's Creek

Greg Poehler for Audience's You Me Her

Randall Park for ABC's Fresh Off the Boat

Judd Hirsch and Jermaine Fowler for CBS' Superior Donuts

Ben Feldman for NBC's Superstore

And now, just some colorful oddities who still have an outside chance: